Abia State Chapter of the All Progressive Congress has said that there was nothing like Donatus Nwankpa or Ikechi Emenike factions in the state chapter of the party.
The newly elected Chairman, Acho Obioma, said this at the party Secretariat in Umuahia on Thursday during the inauguration of the State Executives of the party in Abia.
He said, “What is happening in APC is a gang-up to ensure that we don’t succeed and to dislodge APC. People are using Emenike to destabilize us. Ninety-nine percent of Abia APC members are behind us”.
He described the Emenike faction chairman, Ononogbu, as having not started the party with them and “not known to us”
Obioma also the state chapter of the party intended to write an open letter to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), on the issue.
“We are preparing for the National Convention. No other person will represent us at the convention,” Obioma said.
He added that there was no intimidation and they were going to be united in the struggle, as he assured that he would not disappoint the party.
The immediate-past Caretaker Committee Chairman of the party, Donatus Nwankpa, buttressed Obioma’s point, as he congratulated the newly elected chairman.
Nwankpa, who piloted the affairs of the party since 2013 in various capacities as merger chairman, interim chairman, caretaker chairman, and chairman described Obioma as “the winning team” that will win the state for the party.
While paying tribute to members of the party, including Sen. Orji kalu, Hon. Uche Ogah and numerous others, Nwankpa noted that the party has moved from the level of obscurity in the state to prominence with the election of the President, Senators, House of Representatives and others.
He expressed his disgust and wondered why “they use mediocre to destabilise the party”, stating, “I have subdued Emenike over the years. The Peoples Democratic Party and Emenike have failed”.
Responding after the inauguration,
Obioma said that the party in the state came from nothing to where it is today “to the point that people are claiming what does not belong to them and to snatch it from us”.
Addressing a press conference shortly after the ceremony, the state Publicity Secretary, Mike Ozoemena, said there are no two party executives in the state, stating that no one person can appropriate the party to himself.
He described the certificate of returns given to Emenike’s factional chairman as “mere paper from the backyard”, challenging Emenike to a “popularity contest”.
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